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Gül börek / Rose pastries/ Rožės pyragėliai

Word gul or rose is given to so many pastries in Turkish cuisine. If it's rolled in a shape of a rose, then it's definitely a gul or rose. Here's once I made sweet cookies in a shape of a rose and this time I am sharing a recipe of a gul borek. As it is Ramadan month in Turkey, boreks are served as an appetizer during dinner- iftar time or as a part of an early breakfast - sahur. Traditionally gul borek is filled with fried ground meat or spinach and cheese filling. I chose roasted eggplant which gives a very distinctive flavour to the pastry.

The yufka dough that is always used is similar to phyllo dough just a bit thicker and you can get in all Middle Eastern or Turkish shops. You can also use phyllo, just the borek will be crispier and you should use a few layers of phyllo as I did in this spinach pie recipe. Enjoy!

Gul or rose borek

( makes 6)

What we need:

3 yufka dough

3 eggplants

1 garlic clove

a small bunch of parsley

50 ml of olive oil

salt and black pepper

1 large egg

3 tbsp milk

nigella seeds

What we have to do:

Use a fork to make a few holes in the eggplants. Put them on a direct fire of the stove and roast it until the skin turns black and the inside gets soft. Cool and peel the skin. You can also roast the eggplants is the oven, but burning the skin a bit makes them more delicious. Cut the eggplant into pieces so that it turns into a pure. Add chopped garlic clove and some parsley. Mix it well. Season with salt and black pepper.

Cut the yufka pastry in half. Usually they are round so you need half of the circle for one borek. Brush the yufka with some olive oil, add the filling and roll it into a log, then roll the log into a round bun. Push the ends under the pastry so it wouldn't fall apart. Repeat with the rest of pastry and filling.

Mix the egg with milk and generously brush the borek. Sprinkle with some nigella seeds.

Preheat the oven up to 190C and bake the pastries for about 30 minutes until golden brown. Serve as an appetizer or as a part of a dinner with some salad. Enjoy!